Bumper



' Sept. 21, 1943. N R W LF 2,329,808

BUMPER Filed Sept. 22, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 MCHOLAS R. WOLFE INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Sept. 21, 1943.

N. R. WOLFE 2,329 808 BUMPER Filed Sept. 22, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 N ICHOLAS R, WOLFE Zhwcntor rear exposed portions of the body, but the Patented Sept. 21 1943 W l\hichollas R.1Wolfe,.Seattle Wash. Application September 22, 19142, Serial R esents 1 Claim.

Myjinvention relatesto improvements in a bumper for vehicles and mor'e particularly relatesto the provision of a comprehensive protective guard for automobiles. I

It is well known that the. present designs of automobiles muchof the body and its appurtenances is exposed to incidental contact with other vehicles and external objects to the end that, in a relatively short time, scratches, dents and other disfiguring marks mar the finish and:

body lines. 'It is customaryto provide a rail, more often called-a bumper, for thefront and protection thus affordedis limited only to impacts from directions withinthe bounds of these end bumpers. The" fenders, wheel enclosing 'skirts and body portions alongwhat may be roughly described as the side of the automobile are left largely unprotected. l-Iub ca'psare often among the: casualties from minor collisions and blows and the invaluable tires often sufier cuts and contusions which reduce,if not destroy their useful life. e

"Having in mind the defects of the prior art, it is an object of my'invention to provide a protects an automobile from impacts.

' Another object of this invention is the provision of a bumper which will protect the autobumper for' 'automobiles that comprehensively mobile wheels and yet that may'on occasion he swung to a position permitting the removal or service of tires, wheels and related parts.

A further object of the present invention is to provide, in a bumper of the type described, structure permitting the desired functions and which will not be deleteriously affected by the forces that it is designed to guard against.

The foregoing objects and others ancillary thereto I prefer to accomplish as follows:

According to a preferred embodiment of my invention, I mount upon a vehicle a bumper that surrounds and protects the radiator-grill, fenders, doors and other portions of the vehicle to which it is attached. More specifically, the bumper provided is formed in U-sections, one of which encloses each end of the vehicle and has legs to extend toward the central portion of the vehicle past the wheels and fenders in a protective manner, with any intervening space between the ends of the legs of the opposed U- section being also protected. The U-sections are each pivotally mounted upon the frame of the vehicle for swinging dislocation whenever it is necessary or desirable to remove the wheels, hubs or perform work upon the automobile in I Q the region of the wheels.

(01,293-57 I f; I

The. swinging of, the U-sections is ,li'mitedtosuch times as are selected and-atallother' times remains in the guarding position, The swingably mounted U-sectiorisare latched and retained in .the proper protective position; but in amanner that they caneither or both be easilyunlatched .tobe movedout of g the normal position. Both- U- and intermediate j or side sections are eitherlresiliently'mounted or 10 are inherently resilient so that minor blowsjand "impacts may be received by the bumper andyet ;upon release: ofthe force the bumper will return ,to its, normal positions and contours.

The novel features that I'consider charactcrisvl ticof my, invention are set forth. with particularity in the appended claim. The invention .itself however, both as to its organization and its method of operation, together withadditional objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood from the following descriptionfof a specific embodiment when; read in connection withthe accompanying drawingsin which I I Figure-i is a perspective viewof agvehicle provided with'mybumper,

understanding ofthe'general'relation, I e e i I? Figure I 3 isan enlarged fragmentary view of la portion of a U-sectio'n and the latching? means the vehicle suggestedfor convenience of employed to release the bumper [for swinging -Inovement, v

' Figure 4 is a" cross 'sectional view through a door or wall panel, illustrating a manner'of 'resiliently mounting intermediate bumper sections to a vehicle,

Figure 5 is a side elevational view of a modification of my bumper with the side portion of the bumper mounted below the lower swing edge 40 of the door, and

Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view of the modified form of Figure 5, through a door or side panel of the body and showing the manner of resiliently mounting the side bumper.

A bumper to overcome the defects hereinbefore enumerated must have at least two totally distinct characteristics; it must be capable of efiectively guarding the automobile from all directions; and it must provide a resilient guard that may nevertheless be simply removed for service or repair of various of the prime functional elements of the vehicle. Accordingly, a'preferred embodiment of my invention, referring to Figure 1 of the drawingS, is constituted by a bumper which is mounted 55 upon the vehicle I 0 which has the usual wheels H Figure 2 i's a plan view of abro k en away portion of the-U-section of my'bumper withparts that are shielded or covered by fenders such as l2. At the front end of the vehicle I mount a U-sec tion that comprises the cross-rail l4 and has side legs I5 that extend rearwardly toward the midportion of the automobile. As shown in Figure 2, the side legs l5 are shaped to swell outwardly to permit the turning of the front wheels of the vehicle as suggested by the dashed line showing.

On the rear of the vehicle a similar U-shaped bumper section" 16 is mounted to cross the rear exposed portion and has side legs l1 which extend forwardly past the rear wheels and their fenders.

Between the ends of the legs of the two bumper sections I mount an intermediate guard bar was, shown in Figures 1 and 4. Guard bar is has a pairof studs I9, 19 which are shown 'to pass through suitable door or wall openings or directly beneath them and the brackets 20, 2lleithr To overcome the force of the springs, as 35, when it is desired to swing the U-sections about their pivots, means is provided for manually withdrawing the detent pins 30 from their seats in the sockets carried by the cross rails. Such a means comprises the head 36 on the pin 30 and the manually rotatable bushing 31 which is mounted on pin 30 between the head 36 and the fixed bushing 32. The faces of head 36 and rotatable bushing 31 are cammed with respect to each other so that upon the rotation of the bushing 31, which may be facilitated by use of the handle 38 or in any other convenient manner, the cammed faces will become opposed rather than complementary,

internally of the door 2| or other similar, but

non-swinging, wall panels of the vehicle, or as in thefca se' of Figures5 and6, to be locateddirectly feww the body structure andhaving a main supperson the car frame. The s'tuds are headed in the" customaryma'nner and" compression springs 22; 22'cons'tantly urge the bumper section I I out- "wardlyby pressing against the"bu'mper section and tne brackets 20, 2o. "Bothof 'thefU-se'ctions M and IS on' theinner f'fa'ces of theends of the legs l5 or I'I'respectively Y'have" pivot pins 24. in the manner shown in Figure 2. A supporting bracket 25 carried by the "vehicle frame'ZS receives the pivot pin 24 around which is coiled the compression spring 21. A '.r'ta'inihg head 28on the pin' 24pr'e'vents outward dislocation of the bumper leg under the 'u'rgence of the spring. A blow'direct at the bumperleg is accommodated by the spring 21 which upon the "relief of: the pressure causes the bumper' leg to return to its normal position. 1

'I'he cross rail of each U-section, as l4- in Fig- "u'r'es' 2 am 3, is supported byi the detent pin 30 which seats in the-socket 3|. Pin 30 is slidably and rotatably' mounted in the bushing 32' carried by frame horn 33. Between the shoulder-3 t on pin QO-an'd the end of the bushing 32 is a compress'i'on spring 35 which, upon a force striking the 'cross rail, permits the inward movementofthe U-section to-providea resilient guard. At such time, longitudinal force applied to the legs of the T 'Ue'secti'on are accommodated by the legs'resil- 'iently' bulging outward slightly due to the resistance of the pivotal mounting of the legs to vehicle frame.

stricted except insofar as is necessitated bythe prior art and by the spiritof the'appended claim.

-o f avehicle,;,-legs on said cross'rail extending tion, said latch means' comprising: 'a'bushlng and the pin will be urged against the action of the "spring'35. On such occasions, the bumper may then be moved from its normal position to one 'that'is'out of the way for service or repair of the then exposed portions of the vehicle.

In the modifiedform as illustrated in Figures 5 and 6all arrangement of parts are as shown and described above, with'the exception that where the side bumper ismount'edto be below the body structure proper so as to allow the doors to swing past and over the side bumper I support the studs I [9 in the bracket 39 secured to the main frame and with the spring22 mounted to engage against the bracket on one end and against a fixed collar 40 mounted on the studs Hi, this insures the resilient and shock absorbingefiects desired.

Although I have shown and described certain specific embodiments'of my invention, 1am fully aware that many-modifications thereof are possible. My invention, therefore,:i s not to be re- I' claim: 'An automobile bumper; includingra cross rail extending in a protective manner across one end externally ofthe vehiclepast-the wheels-and their fenders, means for pivotally connecting said legs to a vehicley and latch means supported uponthe vehicleto retainthe cross rail and. legs in: posimeans formanually 'reti actingsaid detent pin to release the cross rails for swinging movement.

NICHOLAS R. WOLFE. 

